I'm fairly confident that Teridax is indeed dead, but I've been thinking of a possible scenario that may have facilitated his survival...

We know from Journey's End that Makuta got all of the MU robot's sensors back online, right? Obviously those sensors would have detected the piece of planet flying towards his head, but Journey's End also tells us that he was too distracted by the death of all of his Rahkshi to actually pay any attention. What if the robot had a backup system that preserved the consciousness of the great spirit piloting it, so even if the head was destroyed, the spirit survived, and could take control once more once the robot was repaired? Even if Makuta didn't see the moon fragment coming, the robot's system (if such a system did indeed exist, I'm being completely hypothetical here) would have, and it may have taken over, saving him from imminent death.

While I think this scenario is entirely plausible, I like to believe that Makuta is well and truly dead, once and for all.

He had his time, and that time is over. May he rest in peace, or in pieces, whichever makes you sleep better at night...

EDIT: Had another thought. I'd love to see an alternate universe where everything went pretty much exactly the same, except Teridax actually dodged the planet, and won the battle. Perhaps this Teridax then harnesses the power of an Olmak and sets off throughout the multiverse conquering all of the Bionicle AU's? That'd be a fun story. Plus, it would give us an excuse to stage yet another giant robot war.

Your idea has been suggested before, but the most likely place for that backup would be elsewhere in the head, since a giant robot without its head would not be able to operate anyways and probably would be way beyond likely repair. Any such backups would thus be likely to be destroyed same as the main processor was.

Others have suggested there still should have been a contingency design to back him up somewhere in the torso, but this is obviously hindsight talking; if we didn't know the head was destroyed in the story, would we think of this? The Great Beings wouldn't have known that in advance. They did think of many contingencies, but that should have a limit. Especially since they had very little time to complete the giant's design. Also, the Ignika actually was such a backup system (in the torso at that), and Makuta ejected that in order to move Mata Nui so he could take over, so the argument really would be that they should have a backup of the backup. And wouldn't Tren Krom have known about it and intervened to ensure the good guys destroyed any such backupbackup?

(Which could possibly have failed, except that Teridax could only focus in one place at a time; a simultaneous attack on a backup and the Core could have gotten the backup if it was swift and devastating enough. So I think had one existed, unless Teridax invented it himself, it would likely have been destroyed by the time of the end. And see my post in the character mistakes post about why Teridax would be unlikely to have time to do that.)

Others have suggested there still should have been a contingency design to back him up somewhere in the torso, but this is obviously hindsight talking; if we didn't know the head was destroyed in the story, would we think of this? The Great Beings wouldn't have known that in advance. They did think of many contingencies, but that should have a limit. Especially since they had very little time to complete the giant's design. Also, the Ignika actually was such a backup system (in the torso at that), and Makuta ejected that in order to move Mata Nui so he could take over, so the argument really would be that they should have a backup of the backup. And wouldn't Tren Krom have known about it and intervened to ensure the good guys destroyed any such backupbackup?

(Which could possibly have failed, except that Teridax could only focus in one place at a time; a simultaneous attack on a backup and the Core could have gotten the backup if it was swift and devastating enough. So I think had one existed, unless Teridax invented it himself, it would likely have been destroyed by the time of the end. And see my post in the character mistakes post about why Teridax would be unlikely to have time to do that.)

Forget Tren Krom, he was going after the Core Processor. If worst had come to worst, Velika would likely have led the rebellion right where they needed to go.

You can claim non-interference all you like, but I doubt he'd have stood around twiddling his thumbs if it had come to that.

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"You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant."

I do believe I've mentioned that I wanted Teridax to stay dead. And Greg can confirm whatever he wants, but as he's said before, he can't control what a future story team says or does. That said, I hope he's right about this. Teridax had his time, and it was certainly a good time, but it's done now.

If Teridax comes back, I'll be very upset. He literally had the most appropriate death ever (crushed by destiny, which was the only Virtue of the three that he believed and followed in his life), and I'd hate to see that retconned.

I'd say this Makuta is hardly comparable to the original one. While his motivation and color scheme (after his corruption) are similar, his origins are very different. Namely, he actually is the brother of the Big Good, as opposed to a megalomaniac wannabe. He's also more sympathetic; at least, by my interpretation, he was just trying to prove he could make a really cool mask, and then everything got out of control (ironic, considering he wore the Mask of Control). However, since we've seen no actual dialogue or conversation from either him or Ekimu, it's hard to pin down any elements of his personality... all of which basically means he's not the old Makuta in any sense.

Edited by Yaldabaoth, Oct 12 2014 - 06:01 PM.

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"You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant."

(Bringing him back irks me though. Can't they come up with another, original villain? I guess they were trying to keep it recognizable as Bionicle, respecting the roots and all that. )

Makuta is a household name, as much as Toa is. Makes sense for them to use him as a villain. Then again, Mata Nui was pretty iconic too. I just wish they kept both names or changed both rather than keeping one...

Since they kept Makuta, I wish they'd kept Mata Nui as well. "Ekimu vs. Makuta" doesn't have the same ring as "Mata Nui vs. Makuta." But I'm probably just saying that because that's how it was in the original BIONICLE story.